Progressive Maryland Weekly Memo for March 20-26

In the Weekly Memo: some victories in Annapolis as the Assembly hits the home stretch; chapter meetings on the horizon and links to the most recent blog posts.

PROGRESSIVE MARYLAND WEEKLY MEMO MARCH 20-26

Some victories last week: Paid sick leave made the crossover, still needs reconciliation between House and Senate versions. The bill for a health care commission helping the state monitor the effects of the Trump/GOP healthcare bill passed the Senate Friday; it has had a committee hearing in the House but awaits floor action.

Fight for 15: Workers and advocates were in Annapolis last Wednesday in support of the Fight for $15 legislation before the Senate Finance Committee. Over 500 people took action by meeting with, calling, or sending messages to their legislators. Help us keep the momentum growing by signing the petition for a statewide $15 minimum wage: http://www.mdfor15.org/petition

A FAIR ELECTIONS TWOFER:

Fully Fund Montgomery County's Fair Elections Program -- Montgomery County was the first county in the state to establish a program to get big money out of local elections and empower small donors. Now, candidates are starting to use the program so we need to ensure it is properly funded for the upcoming elections. County Exec Leggett’s FY18 budget shorts the fund by $1 million, so he and the Council need to hear from energized voters that they want candidates who aren’t beholden to big corporate money. We're almost there in the fight against big money! Sign here to tell the Montgomery County Council to fully fund Montgomery County's fair elections program.

Not only that, but -- Finalize Fair Elections in Howard County In November, Howard County residents voted to establish theCitizens’ Election Fund to curb the influence of large and corporate donors. We’re calling on the County Council to move quickly to pass a final program that will:Only be available to candidates who reject large donations and donations from corporations, unions, and PACs; encourage candidates to fundraise from Howard County residents by providing limited matching funds for small donations from County residents; and establish an independent commission to make funding and policy recommendations to the Council. Tell the Howard County Council to finalize the Citizens’ Election Fund program this spring and bring Fair Elections home to Howard. Sign here.

Thursday, April 6 – Progressive Cheverly Dist. 4 legislative briefing: Rep. Anthony Brown will speak about the political and legislative issues facing Congress and the nation. Please note that Congress will still be in session and Rep. Brown's appearance will be subject to the House schedule (more details to follow).7:00 pm Hoyer Education Center (cafeteria) 2300 Belleview Ave. (Parking Available) Cheverly

It all happens for free… right? Not exactly. Organizing for change in our society and our politics requires both people and money. Keep change moving with a quick, secure impulse-buy contribution here.

Reading the Progressive Maryland BlogSpace: our blogs for the previous week are shown below, but if you want a handy way to keep track – and never miss a blog post – you can sign up to get this Weekly Memo by email. Remember this is your blogspace and your participation is heartily invited. See something going on that you don’t like – or that you do like and hope to see more of? Send us your thoughts; submit to the moderator at woodlanham@gmail.com. We recently published these:

A bill allowing sales tax exemptions for Boy Scouts -- but not other nonprofit youth groups -- discriminates in favor of theists over non-theists, violating the constitutional separation of Church and State, argues Mathew Goldstein of SecularMaryland.org

Veteran state political commentator Barry Rascovar observes "Should 2018 turn into a 'message' election, Larry Hogan’s 'good guy' image and Marylanders’ lack of animus toward him may prove all but worthless. He could well become, for state voters, Donald Trump’s surrogate on the ballot."

Are Democrats slip-sliding back in the centrist, old-boy direction that has brought us Larry Hogan? Hal Ginsberg suspects that the choice of Kathleen Matthews as state party chair, clearly at the behest of top elected power brokers like Hoyer, Cardin and Van Hollen, indicates just that problem for the party. Where will progressives go instead?

Bills in the General Assembly would mobilize Maryland's response to the dangers to the state's health systems that are posed by the "repeal and replace" catastrophe in Congress. Progressive Maryland testified on the bills recently.

In the Weekly Memo this week: movement in Annapolis on both the earned sick leave bill (almost to the finish line!) and the state $15 minimum wage. Also calendar musts for this week and links to our most recent blog posts.

Keeping up with the blogs is easier with the index. The blogs published in the PM BlogSpace since June 2015 are all available with descriptions and links here.